Describes the world of Akhenaten, a ruler of ancient Egypt who attempted to introduce monotheism through worship of the sun
Includes bibliographical references (pages 242-244) and index
Part One: Imperial Egypt -- the extended boundary -- glimpses of imperial Egypt -- Amenophis III, The sun-king -- Part Two: The reign of the heretic Pharaoh -- Amenophis IV and the Puzzle of the reign -- the excavation of East Karnak -- east Karnak before Amenophis IV -- Part Three: "The Great living Sun-disc " -- The spiritual Milieu of Akhenaten's workship -- Part Four: Sunset -- Of politics and foreign affairs -- Symbiosis: The reign of Tutankhamun -- Egypt and Khatte: A tale of war and peace -- Epilogue -- "The beautiful child of the sun-disc."
Reviewer:
hunter_sthompson
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April 21, 2023 (edited)
Subject:
Poorly written, has grudge against Akhenaten
If you want detail, this is the book for you. If you want to know, for instance, how many loaves of bread, how many jugs of beer, how many vegetables were
...
sacrificed to Aten the sun god, this is the book for you. If you want to know where and what was carved on the temples that Akhenaten built (which were destroyed after his death but found buried by the author), this is the book for you. As for the author's attitude to Akhenaten, he seems to have personal opinions about everything connected to this Pharaoh; well, he's grumpy. He doesn't like Akhenaten. Not a man's man, not a warrior Pharaoh, has his head in the clouds and has perhaps stared at the sun (the Aten) too long. In fact, the author is so upset, he's happy when reactionaries after Akhenaten's death tear down Akhenaten's capital city and destroy temples and palaces. Imagine, an 'archeologist' who's happy to see cultural artifacts destroyed by imbeciles. A first for me. pp 132 "Titles abound, but they enlighten us as to function alone, we are left to guess whether this celebrant is Meryre or that one is the god's father Ay or that one Pareneffer. Admittedly this was the norm, it was Amenophis III's that are aberrant -- nonetheless, it removes Amenophis IV's (Akhenaten's) Jubilee into a timeless, almost unreal, realm." "The queen's (Nefertiti's) epithets (descriptions) make her sound like a veritable bundle of charm." Why all the sarcasm? Akhenaten has carved his Jubilee into stone as all other Pharaohs have done, but the author is somehow upset and cranky because it is not a Hallmark greeting card that warms his heart. The author is playing the role of hard-bitten scientist. No 'rebel Pharaoh', 'poet' and 'religious innovator' is going to charm him, man of science and unbeliever, and make him into a laughingstock in front of his hard-science colleagues. Already, way before publication of this book, Akhenaten had become famous as the Pharaoh who saw things differently. Several popular books, a 1954 Hollywood movie ('The Egyptian' - not totally bad), and an opera had appeared about this Pharaoh. People seemed to see in Akhenaten a kind and gentle New Age prophet, a pacifist and philosopher with an artistic bent. The author has to prove that he, man of science, is not taken in by all the hoopla. Popular interest in any topic always makes academics and scientists cranky; they don't like the lower orders trespassing on their turf. Like high priests, they will tell you the 'approved' version of the 'truth'. By all means, in real hard science like physics, this may be true. But for a subject like an obscure Egyptian Pharaoh who ruled 3350 years ago, and whose life story is sketchy at best, aren't we all speculating, more or less, including the author, most of the time? Since early in the last century Akhenaten had been popularly hailed as the first king to foster the one-God theory, as a new-age innovator, as a Pharaoh who boosted women and family values, or as perhaps even a proud gay man. The author throws cold water on all theories, saying we have no proof of any of them. Ironically, the author himself feels free to speculate as much as he wants to, generally negatively, for reasons given above. As an archeologist, he feels he has a license to speculate, no one else does. One thing we know for sure because we have the visual proof; Akhenaten sponsored artistic innovations in the statues and carvings that document his reign. Here was a king who thought differently. Any artist looking at the stonework can tell you that in an instant. A major complaint is that the author feels he has to lard the book with slang and hyperbole as if he were John Wayne or perhaps Indiana Jones narrating a tale of rough and ready guys who brook no nonsense. His beef with Akhenaten seems to be that doesn't like innovators or novelty seekers, or anyone he considers to be 'weak' or effeminate. He calls Akhenaten "a heretical freak" at one point. He doesn't like the portrayals carved in stone of Akhenaten. They were a departure from tradition, and Redford doesn't like that, although he also complains when Egyptian art is too tradition-bound. There are contradictions in the book on every page. The tone of the book varies wildly, one chapter the mind-numbingly detailed description of a dig at a temple, the next chapter full of wild suppositions and hunches about the life of Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti. I think the chapters were written at different times and for different reasons, then a shotgun marriage was performed to unite them. Is the book well-written? No, the style is pretty bad, like a kid's term paper. Akhenaten's (or whoever wrote it for him) famous "Hymn to the Sun" is worth a read also. Still very moving. Part of it is in the book, but the full version is online. It was written 1350 years before Christ, but no Christian or any other spiritual person could help but admire it today.
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